Lattice Semiconductor Corp. CEO Bruno Guilmart will leave the company next month to take a job as CEO of Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc., a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of semiconductor equipment.

Guilmart will relocate to Singapore, which Kulicke & Soffa described as the center of the company’s global operations. In a news release, the company said other headquarters functions will also relocate to Singapore later in fiscal 2011

Hillsboro-based Lattice (NASDAQ: LSCC) said that Guilmart’s resignation will take effect Sept. 4.

He will be replaced on an interim basis by Christopher M. Fanning until a permanent replacement is found. Fanning is now the company’s vice president and general manager for low density and mixed-signal solutions.

Guilmart has been credited for turning around Lattice, a manufacturer of programmable logic chips, that until January had not turned a quarterly profit in 9 years.

Under Guilmart, the company shifted away from competing in high-end electronics — a low-volume business already saturated by larger competitors — to focus on low-cost, high-volume market segments. It went from a company whose chips were found mostly in electronics costing $10,000 and above to one whose chips were used in less expensive consumer electronics such as flat panel TVs and laptops.

In addition, Lattice also put emphasis on adding high-quality to its lower-cost products.

Lattice, with $194 million in 2009 sales, last month reported its third consecutive profitable quarter.

“Bruno has been instrumental in Lattice’s return to profitability and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” Lattice Chairman Patrick S. Jones said in a news release. “We are grateful to him for his efforts and success at helping Lattice better realize the company’s potential.”

Guilmart joined Lattice in June 2008 after a stint as CEO of Unisem Group, a Malaysian company that assembles and tests semiconductors. Before that he was president and CEO of Advanced Interconnect Technologies, which Unisem purchased in April 2007.

Guilmart takes over at Fort Washington, Pa.-based Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC), a maker of semiconductor and LED assembly equipment, for C. Scott Kulicke, who has been the company’s CEO for 31 years. The company reported 2009 sales of $225 million.

Lattice’s interim CEO, Fanning, joined the company in 1997 and has also served as vice president of both enterprise solutions and strategic planning. Before joining Lattice, he worked for The Boston Consulting Group, an international management consulting firm.

Lattice released the news of Guilmart’s departure after the market closed.

Its shares closed Friday up nearly 2 percent to $5.44, but fell 3.7 percent in after-hours trading to $5.12. Shares have traded between $1.87 and $6.02 in the past 52 weeks.

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